Friday, November 9, 2007

"The Seventh Seal" (1957) (Post 5)

Bergman's, The Seventh Seal, was Greenaway's first film he saw as an art student that changed his perspective on the cinema. This film changed many people's lives including other filmmakers like Woody Allen who considers Bergman to be the supreme genius in cinema. There are many reasons to love this film. Greenaway admires the film mainly for its visual style and symbolism while Woody Allen is more fascinated with the philosophy of whether God exists or not. Bergman focused on more of an existential cinema that was more self-reflexive and less character driven (at least in this film).

I saw this film years ago because I felt like everyone was talking about it, namely my two heroes, Greenaway and Woody Allen. I expected to be bored stiff but instead was really captured by its different approach. I had never seen a movie like this and didn't know how to respond to it. I still don't know what the hell it's about but I do know that the themes mentioned in the film, death, love, the existence of God, man's solitude in the world, are themes that will never disappear in art. Click here to read an analysis of the film by Geraldo Martinez.
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